Effects of Scaffolding on the Quality of Elementary Students’ Scientific Argumentation

• In Event: Argumentation in Scientific Meaning-Making

Abstract

Though the practice of argumentation is stressed in the standards and can help students deepen their conceptual understanding, there is a dearth of research that demonstrates students can provide claims and appropriate supporting evidence at the elementary school level. This research investigated how scaffolding affects the quality of elementary student’s argumentation in the forms of claim, evidence, and scientific accuracy over a 5 topic instructional unit. Findings indicated that students were more likely to provide appropriate evidence when prompts had sentence enhancers to help scaffold student responses. However, when scaffolding was faded, argumentation quality scores decreased. Thus, though elementary students can compose quality claims with supporting evidence when scaffolded, for lasting effects, students need extended exposure.

Authors

• Angela Shelton, North Carolina State University

• Eric N. Wiebe, North Carolina State University

• Courtney Behrle, North Carolina State University

• Lindsay Patterson, North Carolina State University

• Allison Lamb, North Carolina State University